A federal air traffic controller’s alleged failure to pass along a turbulence warning left three United Airlines flight attendants with severe injuries after their plane flew into rough air that another aircraft had flagged just minutes earlier.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its final report Tuesday following a two-year investigation into the Feb. 10, 2024 incident. Investigators determined a controller at Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center violated the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) procedures by not relaying a moderate turbulence report to United Flight 1890. The controller claimed to investigators that the warning never heard.
The Boeing 777, traveling from Los Angeles to Newark, dropped suddenly while descending through 21,500 feet over New York. (RELATED: 25 Hospitalized After Delta Flight Has Severe Turbulence)
One crew member slammed into the ceiling and fell to the floor, suffering a fractured spine, according to the report. A second struck the overhead, blacked out, collided with a beverage cart and crashed onto the left leg hard enough to destroy the femur and compress spinal vertebrae. The attendant also suffered a head wound. A third was hurled into galley equipment, lost consciousness and sustained facial cuts and bleeding inside the skull.
NTSB issues the final report on its investigation into the Feb. 2024 turbulence event over New York that seriously injured three flight attendants on a United Airlines B-777 flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey. Download the PDF report: https://t.co/yD0i0ZJUjS
— NTSB Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) February 10, 2026
Passengers not wearing seatbelts also hit the ceiling, reportedly including an infant on a parent’s lap and an adult inside the lavatory, according to the NTSB.
Investigators found that controllers in that sector received 17 pilot weather reports during the relevant window but correctly processed fewer than half. The NTSB noted the flight crew followed all required safety protocols.
Turbulence caused 207 serious injuries requiring hospital stays of two or more days between 2009 and 2024, The Associated Press reported. Flight attendants face far greater danger and are 24 times more likely to suffer serious injuries than passengers, according to Euronews.
The FAA has faced years of criticism over its failure to adequately staff air traffic control facilities. A 2024 federal review found more than 40 percent of terminals were operating below target staffing levels, according to USAFacts.